Referrals to the High Plains Youth Center have been suspended while authorities investigate the suicide of a 13-year-old Utah boy, state officials said.
The boy hanged himself with a sheet sometime late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, said Youth Corrections director Jerry Adamek.Corrections officials are investigating the suicide as well as the safety of Colorado youths already serving time at High Plains, which is a private, for-profit detention center that houses 180 youths from 20 states.
The boy who committed suicide was the only one from Utah, and one of three 13-year-olds.
"A psychologist and a psychiatrist evaluated the youth and determined he was not suicidal," said High Plains spokesman Tom Schilling. " we didn't institute a suicide watch."
Schilling said the boy complained of a headache Saturday night and asked that his light be turned out. The boy later hanged himself from a locker located behind a partition and away from view of the door.
High Plains has received several unfavorable reports and audits since opening in 1985, according to corrections department records.
Even before it opened, a review commissioned by the Colorado Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Council concluded: "It will be a tragedy if any youth is placed at this facility."
The report noted that there were numerous blind spots in youths' rooms invisible to cameras and staff checks.
In August 1995, Idaho officials withdrew four of their five boys saying they were scared and intimidated by other youths.
A month later, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommended the use of stun guns and spray chemicals because of injuries to staff members.
In January 1996, a report by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services accused High Plains staff of failing to prevent boys from being raped.
By August 1996, a Colorado audit indicated significant changes and said safety issues had been addressed.